Keppel O&M in talks with Borr Drilling to offload six jack-ups for US$960 mln: report

Keppel Offshore & Marine is in talks with Oslo-listed Borr Drilling to offload six jack-up rigs to the Norwegian offshore drilling contractor, the Business Times reported on Friday.

The sale could fetch close US$960 million, the report said.

The global offshore oil drilling sector is slowly trying to emerge from an industry downturn triggered by low crude prices. Oil drilling companies have struggled since the oil price crash, idling rigs due to high costs, but a revival might be underway.

Earlier this month, Keppel Offshore, the world's biggest builder of oil rigs, delivered the jackup rig, SAGA, to Borr Drilling. SAGA was the first of five jackup rigs that Keppel is building for Borr Drilling.

Borr Drilling is an international drilling contractor that owns and operates jack-up rigs of modern and high-specification designs providing drilling services to the oil and gas exploration and production industry worldwide in water depths up to approximately 400 feet.

Keppel Offshore, which agreed to pay $422 million to end a U.S. bribery probe last year, said in June 2017 that Borr would be taking over the construction contracts of five jack-up rigs initially ordered by Transocean in 2013 for US$1.1 billion.